Stress beater: Red Wine Chocolate Cake

Friday was a particularly unpleasant day.  I sent out the question on how best to deal with it, and the first answer back was "Chocolate cake or cabernet."  Hmm...  decisions, decisions. But why choose?  I knew Smitten Kitchen had a recipe for red wine chocolate cake -- the time to try it was now!

Quick and easy, it came together in a flash.  (I have to admit, though, I hesitated and considered the prudence of throwing 3/4 cup of good wine into a cake!)  My only change was to use salted butter, because I knew I wouldn't appreciate the "euro-taste" from using unsalted.

Here's what I used:

6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (145 grams) firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup (50 grams) white granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
3/4 cup (177 ml) red wine
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (133 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (41 grams) Dutch cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment, and either butter and lightly flour the parchment and exposed sides of the pan, or spray the interior with a nonstick spray. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and yolk and beat well, then the red wine and vanilla. Don’t worry if the batter looks a little uneven. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together, right over your wet ingredients. Mix until 3/4 combined, then fold the rest together with a rubber spatula. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. The top of the cake should be shiny and smooth, like a puddle of chocolate. Cool in pan on a rack for about 10 minutes, then flip out of pan and cool the rest of the way on a cooling rack.

The original recipe is served with a mascarpone whipped cream, which sounds delicious, but I didn't have mascarpone, so it was just plain whipped cream.

Conclusion:  This was good, but didn't taste as sophisticated as one might expect.  I would rather have it as a snack cake.  I would add wine-soaked raisins (or cherries) and bake it in a loaf pan.

Recipe:  Red Wine Chocolate Cake via Smitten Kitchen